Jean-Paul Mousseau (January 1, 1927 – February 7, 1991) was a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

artist. He was a student of

Paul-Émile Borduas Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960) was a Québecois artist known for his abstract paintings. He was the leader of the avant-garde Automatiste movement and the chief author of the Refus Global manifesto of 1948. Bord ...

, a member of the Automatist group and a founding member of the Association of Non-Figurative Artists of Montreal.

Career

Jean-Paul Mousseau was born in Montreal and studied painting there at the College Notre-Dame at the age of thirteen, Interior Decoration at the École du Meuble (1945-1946); and painting with

(1946-1951). He first exhibited his work in 1944, after joining the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museums ...

and as a member of the Automatistes, in the first Automatist exhibition in 1946. In 1948, he was one of the signatories of the

Refus global Le Refus global ( en, Total Refusal, link=yes) was an anti-establishment and anti-religious manifesto released on August 9, 1948, in Montreal by a group of sixteen young Québécois artists and intellectuals that included Paul-Émile Borduas, Jea ...

manifesto.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada In 1953 he was an exhibitor in ''Les Automatistes'' at the Place des Arts, Montreal, and in 1955 his painting ''La Marseillaise'' won first prize in the Winnipeg Art Show (it was one of two first prizes). By 1955, Mousseau was exhibiting work similar in aims to

Les Plasticiens The Plasticien movement was a Canadian non-figurative painting movement, which appeared around 1955 in Quebec. It was a more orderly style of painting in reaction to Les Automatistes In 1954, a young critic and painter newly returned from Paris, , ...

, a group of artists who had broken away from

Les Automatistes Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The movement was founded in the early 1940s by painter Paul-Émile Borduas. Les Automatistes were so called because they were influenced by Surrea ...

to achieve effects through tone, texture, form and line in highly ordered paintings characteristic of the

de Stijl ''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body o ...

group. He exhibited this work in "Espace 55" at the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

in 1955. In 1956, he was one of the founders of the Non-Figurative Artists Association of Montreal. In 1957, he began exploring new materials such as coloured resin and fibreglass. At the end of the 1950s, he was one of the first Quebec artists who saw the necessity of integrating art into the urban environment. His most important contributions are his numerous murals and other collaborations with architects, such as his mural (''Lumière et mouvement'') in the Hydro-Québec building in Montreal for which he won first prize in a competition in 1961. He also designed discotheques. In 1963, 1967 and again in 1997,

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

s of his work were held (in 1997 curated by Pierre Landry for the

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it is ...

with an extensive chronology). He participated in many group shows nationally and internationally including the First Biennial of Canadian Painting (1955); the exhibition of Canadian art at the Canadian Pavilion, Brussels International Exposition, Belgium (1958); as a guest exhibitor of Painters 11 (1958), and in many others. He also designed costumes, posters, scenery and lighting for many important productions of the theatre. His work is included in the collections of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

, Ottawa; and the Musée d'art contemporain, among others. Mousseau died of cancer in 1991.

Montreal metro

Jean-Paul Mousseau did artwork in the

Montreal metro The Montreal Metro (french: Métro de Montréal) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, ...

. He clashed with the metro's first art director, Robert Lapalme, who insisted that art for the metro be figurative, represent Montreal history, and be sponsored. Mousseau wished to open the doors to non-figurative art integrated into the architecture and accounted for in the construction budget. Lapalme held sway over the initial network, except for two works (Mousseau's ''Circles'' at Peel station and

Marcelle Ferron Marcelle Ferron, (January 29, 1924 – November 19, 2001), a Canadian '' Québécoise'' painter and stained glass artist, was one of the original 16 signatories of Paul-Émile Borduas's Refus global manifesto, and a major figure in the Quebec c ...

's stained glass at Champ-de-Mars). Mousseau took over as art director after LaPalme, and his influence marked the rest of the network. Most of the artwork was planned in accordance with the architects, and many were by the architects themselves. Works by Mousseau in the metro include the mural ''Opus 74'' at Viau station, two murals at Honoré-Beaugrand, and a mural at Square-Victoria. He also created some sculptural lighting elements in the concert-hall of the Orford Arts Centre, in collaboration with the designer Léonard Garneau, who was in charge of the interior design of the centre. His work is integral to Montreal's airport and several of its skyscrapers.

Exhibitions

*1945: Montreal Museum of Fine Art *1946: 'Automatistes' (first exhibition) *1952: "Paintings by Paul-Émile Borduas and by a Group of Younger Quebec Artists", Montreal Museum of Fine Arts *1953: "Les Automatistes", Place des Arts, Montreal *1954: "La matière chante", Montreal *1955: Winnipeg Art Show (first prize); "Espace 55", Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Galerie l'Actuelle, Montreal *1956: Galerie l'Actuelle, with Riopelle,

Borduas Borduas is a provincial electoral district in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It notably includes the municipality of Beloeil, Mont-Saint-Hilaire and Otterburn Park. It was crea ...

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

Jean McEwen Jean Albert McEwen (1923 – 1999) was a Canadian painter known for his lyrical abstraction. Early life McEwen was born in 1923 Montreal to a Scottish father and French-Canadian mother. He began his working life as a pharmacist, having received ...

, and others *1957: Association of Non-Figurative Artists of Montreal *1959: Association of Non-Figurative Artists, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts *1958: "Contemporary Art in Canada", "l'Exposition Universelle de Brussels" of 20 Canadian painters *1962: "Festival of the 2 Worlds", Spoleto, Italy *1963: "Mousseau: 20 Year Retrospective", St. Laurent College *1967: "Jean-Paul Mousseau: Aspects", Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal *1971: "Borduas and the Automatistes: 1942–1955", Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and the

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

, Paris *1983: "Association of Non-Figurative Artists of Montreal",

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

*1997: "Mousseau", Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal

Career

Montreal metro

Exhibitions

References

See also